The present invention relates to an apparatus for providing various information pieces for persons in a vehicle.
An apparatus for providing information from newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions, etc., by voice for persons in a vehicle is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 09-329458. To improve the understanding of a vehicle driver of voice information, this disclosure controls reading speed and punctuation pauses in response to driving load. When the vehicle passes another vehicle or when the vehicle crosses an intersection, the disclosure slows reading speed or elongates punctuation pauses so that the driver may easily catch voice information.
If the driving load on the driver further increases, slowing reading speed or elongating punctuation pauses is insufficient to allow the driver to properly catch voice information.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing information for a driver and passengers in a vehicle, capable of surely transmitting information to the driver and passengers.
In order to accomplish the object, a first aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus for providing information for a driver and passengers in a vehicle, having an information source (14, 15, 16) for providing information, a storage unit (17) for storing the information, an output unit (12, 13) for outputting information read from the storage unit for the driver and passengers, a load estimation unit (11) for estimating driving load on the driver, and a controller (11) for controlling, according to the estimated driving load, the storage unit and output unit to read information from the storage unit and output the read information for the driver and passengers through the output unit. If the estimated driving load is high, the controller stops reading and outputting information. If the estimated driving load indicates a high-to-low load change, the controller starts reading and outputting information.
A second aspect of the present invention provides a method of providing information for a driver and passengers in a vehicle. The method includes acquiring information from an information source (14, 15), storing the information in a storage unit (17), outputting information read from the storage unit for the driver and passengers, estimating driving load on the driver, and controlling the information reading and outputting according to the estimated driving load to stop the information reading and outputting if the estimated driving load is high, and if the estimated driving load indicates a high-to-low load change, start the information reading and outputting by going back a predetermined period from the last stoppage of information reading and outputting.